Friday's run

5 miles, 40:49, 1 degree. And I mowed most of the lawn afterwards. Nothing new to report, but thought I ought to say that I did indeed run.

Tough workout tonight

ORN: 6.2 miles, 1 degree, 48:41 (I think, but I could be off a bit).

Tonight was a tough workout. I wasn't originally planning on going quite this fast, but nothing was feeling right. My stride felt wrong, landing felt awkward, my arms weren't swinging right - you name it, it just wasn't "clicking" tonight.

So, I decided to pick up the pace and treat it as a more of a race than a workout. My stride wasn't actually off; it just wasn't coming as naturally as it normally does. The whole workout was just tough, mentally speaking. It wiped me out, but more in my head than in my legs. I was tired, and not particularly happy when I was done. I should be happy with the time, but I think what really matters more is that, even though I was not really "into" my run, I didn't cut it short or slow it down - I sped it up and tried to give that ole' determination a workout that it sorely needed.

Dang, that's kewl.

Running Jayhawk posted a link to this. Now, I don't have a Nano, and don't wear Nike shoes, but I could almost see breaking down and getting them, just for something like this. Or, I could wait a year or two, and watch several different competitors come out with their own version of the same concept.

But all the same, it's quite kewl.

Trail running

ORN: "Just under 8 miles", time was approximately 68-70 minutes.

I admit that I have no idea exactly how far today's run was, nor the exact time. I glanced at my watch when I locked up the car, and started running within a minute or so, but I wasn't really interested in an exact time tonight. I simply wanted to do better than the last time I ran this particular trail, when it took me about 80 minutes for the full loop.

So, I definitely accomplished that goal. I also didn't bother with Gu during the run, and the only walking I did was at one point, when I was trying to fit one of the rear water bottles back into the belt. In my defence, it was the first time I had actually run with it, so the bottles, being in different positions than my other belt, gave me some problems. And trust me, when you drop a bottle on a trail that is used by, among other things, deer, raccoons and horses, you probably don't want to drink from the bottle until you have had a chance to sterilize it.

I did feel much stronger this time, though I did notice that my posture goes to crap on the tougher hills and technical sections. I'm sure that if I can maintain a more erect pose, and not tighten up so much, it will help a great deal.

It's something to work on, but I am not letting it diminish the sense of accomplishment I feel tonight.

Another boring dreadmill run

ORN: 5 miles, 38:30, 1 degree.

I wasn't planning on doing a dreadmill run today, but I had to do several errands, and, since I was already close to the Y, I went ahead and did the run there, lest I just blow it off instead. (Yeah, I've fallen into a bad habit - ever since the marathon, I've been slacking. I'm correcting it, but, with no races coming up, some of the motivation is just. . . lacking).

Anyway, I'm trying to improve my running pose and increase my speed. So far, it's not going too well, but I have noticed some areas in which I need improvement. Like how I carry my head, and my overall posture.

Disappointing speed workout

ORN: 3.5(ish) miles, 27-28(ish) minutes, 1 degree.

Today was the first time I had done any real tempo work in more than a month, and it showed. I did a nice easy warm-up mile (which is included in the figures above), and then started doing half-mile intervals (similar to Yasso 800s) Foolish me, I was planning on doing them in 3 minutes, with 3 minutes of recovery between them.

The good news is that I finished two, and, thanks to a longer break, did an almost passable third one (sort of - I cut it short, like .4 miles, but kept the speed up). I walked a little bit of a cooldown, then did a much more manageable half mile, just to get the bad taste of the last, failed interval out of me.

I also did some weights, but I can see that my tempo work has a long way to go, if I want to shave any significant time off my next marathon. I only have 5 months or so to prepare, and it will go by faster than I want it to. So, tempo workouts are definitely being written into the schedule again, as opposed to being a more ad hocworkout.

Long time, no post

ORN: 5 miles, 1 degree, 39:0x minutes.

I haven't been running much lately; in fact, today was the first run since last week. Things have been busy, and I haven't had time for a lot of things. Hopefully, I can get in a run tomorrow; but, as long as I get another couple good runs in this week, I'm going to be relatively happy.

Quick morning run

ORN: 4 miles, 30 minutes, (mostly) 1 degree.

I really wanted to run outside today - it's raining and 40-odd degrees, which would be great for a quick 30-45 minute run. Unfortunately, my wife is out of town, and if I am going to get any running down, it had to be at the local YMCA, where I can put my son in the child watch.

So, I found myself once again on the dreadmill. At least today I had my pick of models; some days it seems that everyone is trying to run, and other days, no one is using a single one. I was planning on a hard, fast run; both because I need to do more of those, and because I had another couple errands to do after running but before lunchtime. I initially had the dreadmill at a 2 degree incline, but, after half a mile or so, I dialed it back down to 1, and picked up speed instead.

I do want to increase to 2 degrees though. I'm fairly certain that my constant dreadmill training at 1 degree had something to do with the improvement in my speed, and I'm pretty sure that doing some runs at 2-3 degrees will have some positive results, as long as I structure the recoveries accordingly.

Random thought from the grocery store - when exiting the grocery store, I noticed a car sitting in the middle of the lane, engine idling. They sat and waited for at least 2-3 minutes for a parking space, when they could have parked 30 feet away and walked into the store in half that time. Instead, they were lazy, and burned extra gas while waiting for the chance to deny themselves a little bit of exercise. And they can't use the weather as an excuse - it was only drizzling, so they would have barely gotten wet.

Time for a new goal

ORN: None - still getting back into habit of running, will be running tomorrow.

I decided that I really needed a new goal. So, I registered for Chicago Marathon today, and I am almost certain to reigster for the Runner's Edge trail half-marathon. The half is in early September, and I plan on using it as a hard training run for the marathon (which would follow about 7 weeks later, so it won't negatively impact my performance). I'm not planning on making this a Boston-qualifying performance, but I am going to train with the intent of significantly improving my time.

I'm aware that the crowds might well impair my performance in the initial miles, but I did qualify for (and request) to be in the Preferred Start (II) corral - I made the qualifying cut of 3:55:59. If I can get in, I should have no more than 10,000 people in front of me. And that's assuming that I am in the back of the corral, and that the Competitive, Preferred (I) and (II) corrals are all filled to the current estimated maximum capacity.

I've got over half a year to train and prepare - lots of time to work on improving my speed.

Running once again

ORN: 5 miles, 37:50, 1 degree.

Today was my first "real" run since the marathon. I did a couple short 2-2.5 mile runs the first couple of days afterwards, but then lost a day to travel, and then 3 more to illness. I'm pretty sure that today was the first time I had run in the last week.

So, today was my first real run on "post-marathon" legs - and, unless today was an aberration, I am thinking that I might have a lot more potential than I thought. I'm not claiming Olympic-level potential, or even winning small local events, but I think I might actually be able to qualify for Boston within the next couple of years.

I'm a little concerned that, without a definite racing schedule, I might slack off and not really push myself as much as I can. I think that I need to decide, today, between Chicago and Detroit, and register. Not because slots are filling fast (though Chicago apparently may fill up before the end of the month), but because I want to do a solid training schedule, with lots of time for speed and distance workouts.

Decisions, decisions - anyone want to help?

Well, with the first marathon now under my belt, it's time to consider another one. So far, I'm looking at two: Chicago and Detroit. Each one has several personal pros and cons, but I'd like some input from people who have run one (or both) of them before making my decision. It may not influence it, but I do have to register in the next week or two in order to ensure a spot, and thought experienced runners might have some advice.

Yep, my time is official now.

Well, my watch wasn't as far off as I thought. The official times are up (though listed, for some reason, as the Making Strides event, on the 24th, instead of the 29th). My official time was 3:48:16.5, and I even placed 2nd (out of 5) in my age category. I was a little disappointed to find that I actually had a couple racers who were only a few minutes in front of me - if I had known that at mile 23, I would have pushed through and tried to catch them.

ORN: 30 minutes biking, 2 miles (and some) on the dreadmill (17 minutes, so about an 8:20 pace). I'm still kind of stiff and sore, but it goes away for a bit when I get up and moving.